


Baby It's Cold Outside

by Imogen_Penn



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Prompt Fill, Tropes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-26
Updated: 2013-10-26
Packaged: 2017-12-30 13:23:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1019117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imogen_Penn/pseuds/Imogen_Penn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone knows that the best way to stave off hypothermia is to strip down and cuddle. Or, Steve Rogers and the story of the best avalanche ever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby It's Cold Outside

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merideath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merideath/gifts).



> This one is for Meri and her delightful prompt: Steve/Darcy- huddle for warmth trope. They are kissing when found. Darcy blushes and tries to distance herself to save Steve face but he is having exactly none of that. 
> 
> It's 100% fluff and I am not ashamed.

“Base, this is Rogers, I’m picking up a beacon out here.”

“You okay to check it out Captain? A few of our ground team are unaccounted for after that last detonation shook the snow cap loose. It’s gonna be a little while before we can spare the man power to dig for them.”

“No problem base, not even out of my way.” Steve clipped his communicator to his belt and trekked forward, following the blinking readout on the data pad he carried.

For a man trekking over a snowy deathtrap of a battlefield, he was feeling awfully chipper. But it wasn’t all that often that Steve got to be part of relief efforts. Usually he was the one causing the destruction that the ground team cleaned up. Not that he hadn’t been part of the raid to take out the AIM northern outpost bunker, but it had really turned out to be more of a support role. Planning, tactics, and backup. He wasn’t even in the suit. He was wearing the same white parka as everyone else. He kind of liked the feeling.

The beeping settled into a steady hum as Steve climbed up a snowy ridge, his snowshoes pulling up clouds of powder in the loose snow. The last set of charges that had destroyed the bunker had brought down an unexpected, but small avalanche down in an area where a ground team was waiting for any escaping AIM. It was loose snow, and they all had beacons and knew better than to try and dig their way out. So long as they hadn’t tried to fight the snow and stayed calm, they would all be fine. But Steve new better than most that being trapped under a few meters of snow for any length of time was not particularly fun.

“Ground team,” he shouted down as he put away his data pad, “SHIELD ID 07892 here, I’m gonna find you an air hole and then we’re gonna dig you out, okay?”

He thought he heard a muffled response from below him, so he opened a small telescopic pole strpped to his pack and started piercing the snow, looking for the pocket the agent would have dug out around their head. All of a sudden, his pole lurched into an opening below the snow and kept of going, pulling him forward. But he didn’t stop when he hit the snow. Instead, the powdery pile gave way in a rush and he was tumbling headfirst, landing heavily on a solid surface a few meters below followed by a pile of snow that blocked out the light above him.

“God dammit, didn’t you hear me yelling at you?” a sharp female voice cut through his daze as he pulled himself to a seated position and started to brush himself off.

“Not really,” he said in the direction of where the voice was coming from, “I actually sort of thought I was trying to rescue you.”

“Well, just top notch work there ace,” came the sarcastic reply, “Now we’re both trapped here for the duration.”

“Where is _here_ exactly,” he asked calmly, trying to ignore the biting sarcasm. It sounded very familiar for some reason.

The voice sighed, “just hold on a second, I’ve got an LED lamp.” There was a rustling noise and then a low click. The blue white light of the lamp was almost blinding.

Steve blinked in surprise as he eye adjusted. They were stuck in what looked like a small, rough cabin. He had fallen through the skylight, which must have been broken in the initial slide. The hole was now packed solid with snow again, as was the small window on the side of the room. There wasn’t much space inside, only enough for a small stove, a single bed, and a wood pile.

He turned back to his companion, who was starting at him with an open mouth. “Captain Rogers,” she managed after a moment, “what did you do to get stuck on clean-up duty?”

“Ms. Lewis?” he asked in surprise, “what are you doing here?”

“Uh….avalanche? Hiding in the little hunting cabin seemed like a good idea at the time.” She stammered.

“No…I mean, yeah, yes, that was a good idea, but why are you _here_? I thought you were Dr. Foster’s assistant.” Not that he, you know, had tracked down all the information he could about her after she had shown up at their local watering hole one night with Dr. Foster and Thor. Not that he had subtly asked about her every time they went out until Hill had asked if he needed her file for some reason with an exasperated look in her eyes. Not that he’d been trying to casually catch her in the labs by walking way out of his way every time he went to SHIELD.

Okay, maybe he had.

“I was never really much for science,” she said breezily, as if they didn’t both know she had been instrumental in what was probably the most significant scientific advancement in the last century, “Coulson suggested I might want to see if I could test into the agent training program. Turns out I’m not half bad at this stuff. Well,” she shrugged, “usually anyways.”

“Oh…” he swallowed uncomfortably. The thought of her regularly putting herself into dangerous situation made him very uneasy, but the last time they had had a conversation he had suggested that maybe travelling to Asgard on her vacation time wasn’t exactly a safe idea and she had torn into him about antiquated gender roles and misplaced patriarchal tendencies for a solid fifteen minutes. She had been glorious, heat in her cheeks and fire on her tongue throwing all of her razor sharp intellect at him. Still, he didn’t exactly want to repeat it.

She laughed though, “I can see you repressing a comment Captain Rogers, but there’s no need. Everyone has to rotate through field training. I’m on the asset management track. Believe me, I have no desire to end up in situations like this every other week.” She shivered, pulling her coat a little closer.

“Oh,” he couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved. It had nothing to do with her capabilities, it never had. It was just that about 30 minutes into a conversation with her, had had felt an irrepressible desire to glue her to his side and never let her go again.

“So how did _you_ end up rescuing useless trainees on this ho-hum salt and burn run. I thought they saved you up for the exciting stuff.”

Steve raised an eyebrow, “You’re saying getting caught in an avalanche isn’t exciting?”

“Terrifying, maybe,” she quipped back with a grin.

Steve smiled, “well at least I know you’re not hypothermic because you’re still talking sense. I was getting cabin fever, I suppose. Hill assigned me to help out basically to get me out of her way I think.”

Darcy doubled over laughing, clutching at her sides.

“What?” Steve asked, stung.

“Really?” she gasped out between guffaws, “You had _cabin fever_?” she pointed at their surroundings.

Steve let out a very undignified snort of laughter as his choice of words hit him. “Yeah, okay, that one’s on me,” he said finally after they both regained their breath.

“So,” she said after a moment, “how long d’you think before they figure out what happened and come looking for us?”

“Well, the only reason I got here so soon is I caught your signal on the way back to base camp. SOP will be for everyone to check in and to secure the area before S&R really gets to work, so it could be a while.”

“Well, at least I managed to get stuck with you Captain Rogers, you’ll probably be first on their list,” Darcy mused, tucking her hands inside her sleeves.

“It’s Steve,” he said immediately. He had been trying to find a reason to talk to her for weeks now. This is definitely not the way he would have chosen to go about it, but he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity that had presented itself.

“Steve,” she agreed with a smile, “although if you happened to have a thermos of hot coffee in your pack, I’d call you Jesus if you wanted.”

“You’re cold?” he asked immediately, the real danger of the situation striking him all of a sudden.

“Well it’s not exactly Malibu,” she said, “But I’ll be fine. See,” she said with a silly grin, pulling the strings on her hood tight so only her nose and eyes peeked out, “I’m preserving warmth.”

Steve grinned, at least slightly mollified. There wasn’t much he could do about it at the moment anyways. Anyone with any training knew that trying to dig yourself out of a snow bank was a really bad idea.

Then he had an idea.

“Come on then,” he said hopping to his feet and holding out a hand to her, “up you get.”

“Steve,” she said cautiously, taking his hand, “what are you doing?”

He grinned at her, “warming you up,” he said with a wink.

+

+

“Steve,” she said breathlessly 20 minutes later, “what good is this going to be if I’m dead when the rescue team shows up anyways.”

Steve grinned and pulled her up from the floor where her last attempt at a clean roundhouse had left her. “You’re doing good,” he said truthfully, “you landed that one fair and square.”

“Yeah,” she said, rubbing her hip and flopping to a seat on the single bed, “but you have less give than a sand bag. Did the government put rocks in there?” she gestured towards his chest.

“Nope,” he said, sitting next to her, “at least not that I know of.”

“You should look into that,” she teased, “you never know with those secret government projects.”

“Well,” he said, “no one’s exactly been signing on for a hands on investigation,” he grinned. He thought that maybe hanging out with Tony and Clint had improved his ability to flirt. That was flirting, right? He felt very uncertain now, because Darcy was looking at him in shock.

“What!” she sounded incredibly offended.

“What?” he asked defensively, “I just meant…”

“Do you mean to say that no one is….that you don’t have a…you’re not _seeing_ anyone?” Darcy seemed to struggle to find the right words.

“Oh,” said Steve, finally getting it, “Well, no. I don’t…uh, get out much?”

“Clint says that girls hit on you down at the pub _all the time_ ” Darcy said, and then froze.

Steve felt a little thrill bubbling up inside of him, “You were talking to Clint about me?” he asked.

“Well, not really…I mean…I just…It came up,” she was biting on the inside of her lip like she was nervous.

“Hmmm,” said Steve a bit absently, because he was all of sudden wondering what exactly Clint might have said about him. “Well, I suppose it might be true,” he admitted sheepishly. It made him very uncomfortable, to be honest. He liked the bar a lot better when Natasha came along and glared them all down. He hadn’t minded it before so much, but after he met Darcy he just didn’t want to give any of them the wrong impression. “I guess that’s just not the kind of girl I have in mind.”

“So Captain America has a type?” Darcy asked with a curious look.

Steve snorted, “Captain America is in a long term committed relationship with the media…and possibly the shield,” he added, just to see her laugh.

She looked like she was about to ask him something, but a shudder ran through her, stopping her for a moment. Steve looked over at her closely and saw what he should have seen before. Her usually pale skin was chalky white, her lips turning blue at the edges, a low shiver running constantly through her hands.

He was a goddam idiot. He was having so much goddam _fun_ being trapped with her that he forgot how much heat his body threw off compared to hers. Even he could feel the cold creeping up his fingertips, she must be _freezing_.

“Darcy,” he said abruptly, cutting her off, “give me your hands.”

“What? Why?” she asked, but put her gloved hand in his.

He didn’t answer, just pulled off one glove.

“Shit, Darcy you should have said something,” he said, immediately pulling off his own gloves and trying to rub some circulation back into her distinctly blue fingertips.

“It’s fine Steve,” she said, although he could tell now that she was talking to clenched teeth to keep them from chattering, “I’m honestly starting to feel a bit warmer now anyways.”

He looked up at her in alarm and placed a finger against her pulse. It was getting thready.

“Aw, fuck Darcy you know perfectly well that’s one of the signs of hypothermia,” he cut out, looking around the small cabin for options.

“Does the media know how much Captain America likes to swear?” she said with a shaky grin, “Because I find that pretty entertaining.”

He grinned at her, rolling his eyes, “Will you stop being so damn cute for five seconds so I can figure out how to keep you warm?”

“Charming Captain,” she said, “I’ll be fine, really, shouldn’t be long now.”

He let out an exasperated sigh. “Darcy Lewis, I have been trying to track you down for _months_. I haven’t looked sideways at another girl since you yelled at me at the pub.  Please stop trying to be so tough and let me help you, because I’d really like you to have all your fingers when I take you out for dinner, okay?”

Darcy stared at him with wide eyes for a moment. “Am I hallucinating?” she asked.

Steve quirked an eyebrow at her and started unzipping his parka.

“Yes, yes I think I’m hallucinating,” she added.

“Is it a _bad_ hallucination?” he asked carefully, reaching over to undo her coat as well.

“ _No_ ,” she exclaimed, “Definitely not. Dinner sounds great. So does keeping my fingers, I’m on board Captain,” she grinned at him with blue lips.

“Come ‘ere,” he said, settling back against the wall and pulling her into his chest. Once she was settled, he tucked in her coat and pulled his as far around her as it would go.

“Jesus,” she exclaimed, pressing her face into his chest in a way that made his belly flip, “you’re like a space heater.”

“I have my uses,” he said quietly against her hair, rubbing his hands up and down her back.

“Hmmmm,” she made a contented noise as she tucked her hands around his waist.

After a few minutes, he could feel her shivering start to even out and her breathing slowed.

“Fingers still attached?” he asked, his hands slowing on her back.

“All accounted for,” she said into his fleece sweater, “I can…” she made to move away from him, but he had no interest in letting her go anytime soon and tightened his arms around her.

“Stay,” he said simply.

“Okay,” she said, scooting up against him so her head fell against his shoulder.

He could still feel the chill of her nose against him, so he ran a hand over her hair, holding her close against him. Despite the nature of the situation, it felt so good to have her pressed against him like this, feel her breath against his neck, the curve of her hip through her jacket.

He had imagined the way she would feel against him countless times, the weight of her against his chest, the press and give of her curves. He had imagined it in a way that probably wasn’t wise to think about right now, because any minute she was going to realise that…

She shifted her leg and he froze with a sharp intake of breath as her thigh brushed against the obvious evidence of his arousal.

“Sorry, I’m sorry,” he said, embarrassed.

But she wasn’t exactly moving away. She was looking at him with a wide eyed and curious expression. Hesitantly, she shifted carefully, brushing against him again and causing him to let out a breath and close his eyes tightly. So he didn’t see as she shifted her weight onto one arm so she could tilt her head up to his and carefully, tentatively press her lips against his.

It was sort of like a damn breaking, or a lighting strike, or some other sort of cosmic event.

He clutched at her jacket, pressing his tongue against the seam of her lips, groaning as they opened for him, the chill in her lips melting away as he hungrily sucked and bit and licked at her mouth. She was making a low noise that was spurring him onwards as her hands worked up his spine to clutch at his shoulders, her knee falling between his, her hips pressing into him with delirious pressure.

A distinct and deliberate cough shocked them both into stillness.

“Am I interrupting something?” Natasha Romanov’s distinctive voice cut through the snowy silence. He hadn’t even heard her get in. They must have brought in some heavy equipment because the front door was open.

And, Steve processed a moment later as the cold air starting cutting through, Darcy had rapidly moved herself away from him, pulling her coat tightly around her, looking anywhere but him.

He raised an eyebrow. Did she think he was going to try and keep her a secret? Hell, he was far more likely to want to call a press conference to detail for all of America how amazing she was.

“Actually,” he said coolly to Natasha, “you are.” He reached out and pulled Darcy back down against him where she landed with a little huff, “Come back in an hour.”

Natasha smirked at him, “Fury just landed on base, you sure you want me to do that?”

Darcy smacked him in the chest, but she wasn’t moving away anymore, which had been his whole point, so he was satisfied. In fact she was grinning at him, even though her face was flushed. “Come on Captain,” she said, rolling off the bed and pulling him after her. He was very grateful for baggy snow pants, “I get the feeling you’re going to get in enough trouble as it is.”

Natasha snorted in amused agreement.

He slung an arm around her shoulders and, at least partially for Natasha’s benefit, drawled “is that a promise?” Natasha rolled her eyes at him and shoved his snowshoes into his chest.

“Let’s gets moving shall we?” she snapped, but it was good humored.

And then, just for Darcy, he leaned down to whisper in her ear, “you did promise me dinner though.”

She grinned up at him, “I’ll pencil you in,” she said with a grin. But she didn’t seem to mind when he held her hand while they were waiting for the med team to check them, or when he kissed her, quickly but right in front of everyone, when they got pulled away for their separate debriefs, so he was going to go ahead and call it the best avalanche ever.

 


End file.
